VOICE OF GREECE, R.I.P. -- Another Mainstay on SW Radio Disappears Into The Ether

 

As I have mentioned on this blog before, I have a long distance radio hobby, where you use a radio to listen to stations from other parts of the country, and also from other parts of the world. It's like travelling without leaving your chair, and the atmospherics of the radio signal propagation makes it literally sound like the signal is coming from far away.

As we all know, the technology of mass media has changed the way audio media is consumed. Up until the last decade, radio was a key way for people to stay informed, or hear popular music. Since the middle of the last decade, the importance of radio has lessened, as the internet has improved in availability and has become more popular.

This migration of "radio" from Over-The-Air broadcasting to internet reception of radio programming has led to a lot of Over-The-Air stations to be taken off the air. For example, MW/AM stations in Europe have more or less disappeared, replaced by FM broadcasting, and more recently DAB and internet, digital broadcasting. Norway has gotten rid of many (but not all) FM stations -- replacing their biggest, national Over-The-Air radio networks with DAB and digital streaming. The popular, government-run NRK stations (like P1, P2, P3, and Sapmi Radio), as well as some of the bigger FM broadcasters, left FM, and are on DAB, or internet streams.

The UK has attempted to do the same. Here in the US, where there is no DAB, and our HD radio is part of the Over-The-Air FM stations' signals, although migration to the internet has been similar. It hasn't killed off FM stations -- yet. But some AM stations are feeling the pinch.

The decrease in radio revenues across the board hasn't help the cause of AM, and it's also changed FM, in that more programming is nationalized and centralized.

THE DECLINE AFFECTS INTERNATIONAL, SW BROADCASTING TOO

The migration to internet broadcasting has also affected the Shortwave Radio broadcasters. Shortwave, which always has had less listeners than domestic FM and AM in many parts of the world, began to decrease after the end of the Cold War, and the rise of internet streaming, and especially the increased availability of FM and internet streaming in the Third World has caused SW listening to decrease. This is despite the increase in the numbers of low cost, high performance, Chinese-made SW radios available worldwide.

For maybe two decades after the Cold War ended, SW broadcasting hung on, as many Third World countries still had a lot of listeners, and some broadcasters still beamed their signals to emigrants in other countries. But since 2000, the number of listeners to Shortwave has been dropping, thanks to growing FM networks, and the smartphone.

Even in poorer regions of the world, the smartphone has increasingly replaced the AM, FM, and SW radio.

Consequently, many SW stations are going off the air.

Shortwave radio's longevity hasn't been helped by the recent downturn in signal-killing SW atmospheric conditions, during the decline in the most recent 11-year Sunspot Cycle, which started in 2016. It's hard to promote a medium that -- when you switch on the radio -- you hear nothing but static.

As a SW enthusiast, I've seen stations go off the air that I still sort of miss. One was a station I heard only once or twice, during the Winter of 2002-2003 -- Bayern Rundfunk, in the 6 Mhz SW band. I'll never forget hearing this German station playing 80's music at 4 in the morning, Pacific Time. They went off the air maybe 4-5 years later.

Another SW station that is missed by a lot of SWL's is Radio Australia, the station on which I discovered Oz rock music, which went off the SW in 2017. They used to serve the South Pacific, South Asia, and East Asia, and were frequently heard in the U.S. They were heard every night and morning on 9580 and 5995 Khz, with their wide variety of great programming, including a lot of great music. Just before they went off the air, they relayed their national networks, including alt-rock channel Triple J.

....AND NOW GREECE

Now another station has been added to the list of broadcasters pulling the plug forever: The Voice Of Greece.

My Realistic DX-390 AM-FM-SW radio, which I bought in the mid-1990s and used probably every morning and evening from 1996 until 2016, when SW conditions disappeared and I put it in the closet for a few years. In the 1990's, I often heard the Voice Of Greece most mornings, with Greek language programming. After re-discovering the radio hobby in 2011, I heard the Voice Of Greece nearly every night on 9420 Khz.

VOICE OF GREECE, R.I.P.

In the 1990's I used to tune into the Voice Of Greece nearly every late morning, as their broadcasts in Greek to the Eastern U.S. were easily heard here in Seattle. I think I heard them in the 19 Meter Band or 25 Meter Band, and reception was usually very good. I usually tuned into them using my DX-390 (pictured above) and a 100 ft. (30m) outside antenna.

Generally there would be a lot of talk in Greek, a unique sounding language is understood by first generation Greek immigrants to the U.S. There would be what sounded like news at the top of the hour. Sometimes there would be music, but mostly talk. The signals were strong -- usually around S4 on my radio. 

They identified as "Foni Tis Helladas" or something similar.

Ironically, I never knowingly heard their programs at night. Just during the daytime.

From around 2005 until 2011 I didn't tune the Shortwaves much. Then in 2011 when I re-discovered my radio DX hobby, I started hearing interesting sounding music on 9420 Khz nearly every evening, at varying signal strengths. The music sounded a bit like Middle-Eastern music, and sometimes it sounded almost Turkish, but the language sounded more like Italian to my American ears. 

It was the nighttime signal of the Voice Of Greece.

I remember one night I pulled out my SW radio -- probably my DX-390. I plugged in my headphones, and turned on the radio. Tuning across the 31 Meter Band, I suddenly heard, phasing and filtering through the airwaves, some of the most melodic, but saddest sounding music I'd heard in my life. It reminded me of a 1930's torch song, or possibly the famous Portuguese 'fada', a sad song of lost love, sung by a woman who had a voice as heartfelt and sweet as the smoothest honey. I was captivated.

I've never heard anything as remarkable since.

After 2011, I would tune my SW radios in to 9420 Khz nearly any evening I DXed. The Voice Of Greece was a dependable "beacon" to check for DX conditions from the PNW US to Europe on SW. Most evenings if it wasn't clearly readable, it was usually audible. It was remarkable that an Eastern European station on the 31 Meter Band would make it over the Pole to the NW US so well.

Of course, during the downturn in sunspots in late 2016, the Voice Of Greece was often missing or unreadable, just a trace of grainy audio trying to break through the static. It's sort of sad that the SW conditions got so horrendous during the solar downturn because little did we know that the Voice Of Greece -- which was mentioned frequently on SW and DX forums online -- would leave us. The Greek government recently turned them off due to budget cuts. They had threatened to shut down the Voice Of Greece earlier, in 2013 or 2014, but the Voice Of Greece managed to stay on the air.

But this time, when they pulled the plug on the Voice of Greece, they did it for good. The last three to four weeks I have stopped the dial at 9420 Khz, curious to see if by stroke of luck the Voice of Greece makes a comeback like it did a few years ago after being shut down... However, this time it appears that Greece is completely MIA. 

Whenever I tune to 9420, I still listen hopefully for a trace of the awesome Greek music that used to be heard on that channel, but all I hear is hiss and static.

Yet one more SW radio station has permanently bitten the dust. 

So long, Voice Of Greece. You made the airwaves a better and more interesting place.

IN OTHER LIFE...

It's the Fourth Of July weekend, and the weather has been here and ther. Warm, but not always sunny. But at least it isn't 40 degrees F and rain. The Fourth itself is tomorrow, and I expect to do nothing more than take a bike ride, and do some much needed yardwork.

I already put out my flags, and hopefully they're not getting rained on right now.

I may have another blog post up before the end of the week. I took a few pictures on my last bike rides -- it was sunny, and I thought a few pictures of sunny weather would liven up the blog.

Until next time, my friends, Peace.

C.C. July 3rd, 2022.